Stewartstown council abolishes ban on guns on borough premises

After a lengthy presentation by its solicitor, Stewartstown Borough Council voted unanimously Monday night to repeal its long-standing ban of firearms in its building.

The borough's ban, which dates back several years, forbids guns in the municipal building.

At January's mid-month workshop meeting, several members of the Libertarian Party challenged the ban's constitutionality under Pennsylvania's consolidated statutes section 18.

Members of the party asserted that the ban violated the law and pointed to recent action in York City that repealed a similar ban.

Solicitor Craig Sharnetzka told council that his research indicated that the claims were correct, but that the situation in Stewartstown was "not black and white."

The law allows banning firearms in judicial centers, and goes on to define those areas to include places such as police holding cells and witness rooms, both of which the borough's municipal building includes as part of the police department.

Sharnetzka told council he felt it could probably justify banning firearms on the grounds that the municipal building shares space with and adjoins through corridors areas where weapons are banned.

At the end of his presentation, council member Kenton Kurtz made the motion to lift the ban except where prohibited by law, and council unanimously voted to do so.

Manuel Gomez, a Libertarian Party member who addressed council last month, thanked them for their attention to the matter and for deciding it in favor of removing the ban.